Two Jugheads are Better than One
by Jynto
Summary: Jughead Jones hated parties. But when he went alone to Pop Tate's on the night of his birthday, the last person who he expected to meet there… was himself. Essentially it's Riverdale's Jughead teaming up with the canon version (who by the way is aro-ace AF) to discuss love, the universe, and bad comic book adaptations. Oh, and he might also reveal what the S stands for.
1. Issue 1 - Jughead Meets his Match

Jughead Jones, the mysterious lone wolf outsider at Riverdale High whom no one understood. There were some things about himself even _he_ did not understand, but he knew this much at least: he _hated_ parties. That was why he had the good sense to leave this one as soon as humanly possible, which for him was a little more than five minutes after blowing out the 16 candles on his birthday cake.

He'd made it the rest of the way without incident, though he did at one point have to duck into a back alley when he saw Cheryl's gang coming the other way with a couple of beer kegs. Now he was sitting with a table to himself in Pop's Chock'lit Shoppe, sipping on a milkshake, waiting for all this to blow over, at which point his friends would eventually come find him.

All the while he passed the time by typing a sappy love poem into his MacBook Air, just so he could let Betty know he wasn't mad at her, because he really wasn't. They only needed to work out some differences in their relationship.

This really wasn't working though. Jughead stared in irritation at the 80 or so words he'd written, before changing his mind and promptly backspacing them all.

It wasn't especially late, but even for a Tuesday night, the place was eerily quiet; Jughead found he was the only one here. He thought briefly about getting up to request a song from the jukebox, but no sooner than he'd decided to do so, the door swung open and someone else emerged, someone who was wearing a funny looking hat.

At first, jughead thought he didn't recognize him, then he thought maybe he did after all, then he couldn't make up his mind. And Jughead was no stranger to funny hats either, being as he wore one himself. But for all that, he couldn't so much as take his eyes off the newcomer, hoping eventually he would turn his face.

He was about the same height as Jughead. And the part of his face Jughead could see showed just the corner of a carefree smirk. Moreover, he was wearing that same purple 'S' shirt as the one Jughead had in his regular rotation.

Now he was ordering something from the bar. Jughead couldn't make out what he was saying to Pop, but he seemed to be waving around a piece of paper and claiming to be some kind of coupon. Jughead didn't know if Pop's accepted coupons. From the look of it, neither did Pop. They appeared to argue for a moment. Then, with a resigned look, the boy handed over some cash, and sidled up to a seat, one table over from Jughead, facing directly at him.

That was when they both saw each other.

For one thing, this guy had very similar hair to him, but the crown-like hat, which he wore at a jaunty angle, was different to his own favorite beanie. Well okay, it did look a bit like it. But beyond that, even his face was similar. No, it was the _exact same_ face. Did Jughead really look like that? He stared into the needle-nosed face of his doppelganger, feeling nervous in the way that he normally only felt when looking in the mirror. He pretended to be distracted by something on his laptop screen in case the other boy noticed him staring.

And that might have worked, for about thirty seconds, but now Jughead was insatiably curious. He couldn't simply wait for the guy to get up and leave. He had to at least ask.

"Do I... know you?"

The reply came back almost immediately.

"I don't know, do you?"

It was in a slightly higher register than him, but despite that, it sounded exactly like his own voice. It even gave Jughead a strong sense of _this is how my voice sounds on a tape recorder and I don't like it_.

"No really, who are you?"

"Well," the boy said. "People call me Jughead."

Just what exactly was this kid playing at? Could Reggie have sent someone here to prank Jughead on his birthday? But how did he manage to find someone that looked so exactly like him? And what would be the motivation of such a prank?

"But... _I'm_ Jughead," he managed to say after a moment of being tongue-tied.

"And I am _you_ ," the other boy explained, as if it were completely obvious.

Jughead furrowed his brow as the brain behind it searched for any possible way of explaining what he saw and heard. His long-lost twin perhaps? What if FP had conceived a twin with another woman? Wait, how would that even work?

"You're me?" he repeated incredulously.

"Well, technically... I'm you from a parallel dimension,"

"Oh, okay," said Jughead, as if this were all the explanation he needed.

It was _not_ all the explanation he needed. But he couldn't very well count on this guy to tell the truth.

It was drugs. It had to be drugs. That shouldn't even be possible, and yet here it was. Jughead couldn't remember taking drugs at the party, but for all he knew, that was a side-effect of being on the drugs. Could someone have put hallucinogens into the cake? No, that was absurd, he thought for a while. But then the sudden realization hit him about the true nature of his double, and soon Jughead knew where he recognized him from.

"This is a dream," he said, pointing at the other Jughead. "That is the only way explain your existence."

"Are you saying I don't exist?"

"Oh, I'm not just saying it. I _know_. I'll prove it right now."

And with that, Jughead pinched himself hard, closing his eyes, expecting that when he opened them again he'd be on the spare mattress at Archie's place, safe.

The other Jughead's voice was the next thing he heard.

"Why do you do that?"

"I was trying to wake up."

"No. I mean, why do people pinch themselves when they think it's a dream? Waste of a good dream if you ask me. Like, you could try and fly or become a pirate captain if you really wanted to prove you're dreaming. But instead, you take the one choice that _literally erases my existence_."

"It didn't work," Jughead replied, somewhat irritably.

"Well geez, am I supposed to apologize for that?"

Jughead sighed. "I'm sorry, man. It's just that I've just been having some rough dreams lately. Including one where I looked exactly like you, with the same weird hat and everything..."

"It's called a whoopee cap."

"...Except Archie was there, and he was pissed at me for some reason. I think in the dream I'd hurt him real bad."

"Oh that's nothing," said the other Jughead. "I once had a dream that Archie was a hamburger, and I ate him! It tasted okay but I felt real bad about it afterward."

At this, Jughead had to laugh, if only for a moment.

"So you really are me?" he asked, still not quite believing it.

"Yup!"

"So, um... Is that why you ordered food for both of us?"

"Huh?"

The other Jughead looked over his shoulder to see Pop Tate walking over with a tray that had two large burgers on it.

"Quarter pounder with fries," Pop said. "And a cheeseburger with extra cheese."

The other Jughead accepted the meals graciously as Pop walked away.

"Um..." a sheepish grin broke out on his face. "They're both for me."

"..."

"But you're welcome to pick at the fries."

Jughead scowled across the table at Jughead, then reconsidered. With some reluctance, he closed the laptop and scooted over to be in arm's reach of the other Jughead's food.

"Are you really gonna eat all that?" he asked.

This prompted the other Jughead to raise his eyebrows, as if that was somehow a strange question to ask.

"What, you've never seen Jughead Jones eat two burgers before?!"

When Jughead shook his head, the other Jughead continued.

"Then buckle up, kid. You're about to see something amazing..."


	2. Issue 2 - The Darkest Timeline?

Thirty seconds later, Jughead was already halfway through his second burger, but the other guy, still sitting across the table from him, hardly seemed to notice. He looked almost bored. Of course, Jughead had expected a lot of things when he entered this dark, mysterious version of his reality, but to meet a version of himself who didn't share his love of hamburgers? That was a new one. He wondered if this universe had any more nasty surprises for him.

"Are you sure that's good for you?" said the other Jughead as he washed it all down with a swig of ketchup.

"What can I say? I have a high metabolism," said Jughead. "Also, my stomach is bigger on the inside."

"Is that... a Doctor Who reference?"

He nodded, which made the other Jughead smile for a moment, even if it was just a moment. Then he returned to his usual frown.

Jughead couldn't help but wonder what was bothering this guy, so much like himself, who was just sitting there, a mere three feet away from him with that beanie pulled down over his ears. But it seemed more like a million miles. He also hadn't eaten any of the fries Jughead had offered him, which was practically a travesty.

"So," Jughead said to keep the conversation going. "I've been going into all the other timelines to stop myself from making terrible mistakes."

"Uh huh. So, kind of like Sliders, but without all the awful dystopias?" the other Jughead asked, seemingly intrigued, but failing to hide his boredom.

"I dunno," said Jughead. "Have you even _seen_ the world you're living in? There is a murderer on the loose in Riverdale. Everyone here looks miserable. Heck, even the sky looks darker. Totally a dystopia."

"Come on, man. We've had like, _one_ murder."

"Yeah, and it's one murder too many."

"So is that what you've been doing in all the other worlds? Solving murders?"

"No, but that would be _awesome_. So far it's just been things like in one timeline, when I stopped myself from joining the football team. And in another case, I intervened to save the Jones family from a fate worse than death..." Jughead paused for emphasis. "Living in Ohio."

"That does sound terrifying," the other Jughead said, and yet he still didn't sound like he really meant it.

Something had to be troubling him though if it was making him act this distant. _Why is it so hard to get through to someone who is literally me?_ Jughead thought.

"Listen man, is something wrong?" he said to his other self.

"Nah, it's just... what you're saying sounds fascinating and all. But, is there any way you can prove you really are me?"

It was a diversion tactic on the part of his double, but Jughead decided to go ahead and indulge him.

"Oh, that's easy," he said. "I'll just tell you anything and everything I know about Jughead Jones."

"I guess this could be interesting," said the other one, who was at last beginning to ease out of his gloominess.

Jughead checked that he had the full attention of his double. Then he began.

"Okay, well for starters, your— I mean _our_ full name is Forsythe Pendleton Jo—"

"Shhh! Not so loud! People can hear you."

"You really hate it that much?"

"I don't _hate_ it," said the other Jughead. "It just reminds me too much of my dad."

"Why? What did he do, Juggie?"

"Many things. Doesn't matter though. Also what's with you suddenly calling me _Juggie_?"

"It's a thing of beauty," Jughead explained. " _Juggie_ – the nickname of a nickname. And since I don't refer to myself in third person, I almost never get the chance to use it."

"I know but... no one calls me that except Mom and..."

He trailed off. Jughead was sure the next word out of his mouth was going to be _Dad_ , but instead he saw the other boy mouthing the name _Betty_. That made very little sense to him. Why would Betty have semi-exclusive access to the nickname? He could think about that later, perhaps. For now he just decided to ignore it and carry on.

"Anyway, you act real dumb in class, but your IQ is 117."

"A lucky guess."

"Your Gmail password is JanuaryMcAndrew5. You have no idea why you chose it. It came to you in a dream."

"Not even close."

Somehow his other self was still not buying it. So Jughead decided to bring out the big guns.

"Okay, so before moving to Riverdale, you were _kinda, sorta_ in love with Joanie Jumpp. Y'know, from kindergarten? But you were like, _four_."

The other Jughead squinted at him.

"Who told you that?"

"As you got older, the more you learned about girls and boys and dating and... _romance_ , the more you realized you want absolutely nothing to do with it. And most other kids didn't get that, but you swear you've been aromantic since before you knew there was a word for it. You're also pretty sure you're also asexual as well."

Jughead realized his heart was pounding far more than it should, like he was 12 again and having this conversation with his parents. It only then occurred to him that it was indeed the strangest coming out talk in his entire life.

"Wait, back up a sec. I'm a what?"

"Asexual," Jughead began to explain. "It means you don't experience sexual attrac— WAIT, you mean to tell me you don't know?!"

"No-no, that other word you used."

"Oh, aromantic. That's where you don't experience romantic attract— WAIT, you mean you didn't know about that one either?!"

"No."

Jughead didn't answer, but his wide-eyed expression was making look even more comical than he usually looked. His other self spoke again.

"Why is this such a big deal?"

"I dunno, man. Being aromantic is just such a Jughead thing. I kinda figure it would be a constant in every universe, like Archie being a redhead, or burgers being delicious."

The other Jughead stared right on past him. The full reality of that word he'd said was just beginning to sink in.

Then at last he shook his head.

"Well, I'm not. Okay? Do you want me to apologize for that?"

Jughead bit his lip. He shouldn't have expected his double to get it right away, but how quickly he had gone to denying it outright was worrying. It was then that Jughead realized he'd made a terrible mistake.

"No man, it's okay," he tried to backpedal. "I guess I shouldn't have straight-up _told you_ what your orientation is. That was uncalled for. I just thought you might've come to that conclusion by yourself..."

"No, Jughead. The fact is, I already know who I am, and that means I can't be asexual, aromantic or anything else you say I am. Okay?"

"Wait a sec. Are you seriously coming out to me as... straight?!"

"Yes Jughead. That is exactly what I am. Thanks for noticing."

At this, Jughead had to raise an eyebrow. Yet he noticed also that in spite of all his outward confidence, the other Jughead's hands were shaking.

"Have you at least considered the possibility that you might be gay?" Jughead asked, even though he knew it was a stretch.

"No, and at this point I really don't think I need to."

"Oh _come on_. What makes you so certain you don't even—?"

"Well for one thing, there's the fact that I _kinda, sorta_ have a girlfriend!"

Jughead stared at his double in outright disbelief.

"No... Don't tell me it's—"

"Dude, relax. It's only Betty."

"Wait, WHAAT?" said Jughead, his worst fears confirmed. "No _nooo_ , I'm too late! Truly, this is the darkest timeline!"

"Dude! Are you being sarcastic?" the other Jughead asked.

Jughead responded with a sharp intake of breath. "No, I am _not_ being sarcastic! This whole _Jughead-having-a-girlfriend_ thing, a girlfriend who is also _Betty_ – this is not okay."

"Why not? Betty's nice."

"Yes, _of course_ she's nice. She is _unbelievably_ nice. She's your best friend, Jug. And then you go and like, _kiss_ her?"

"I don't see what the big deal is."

"The deal is that we are in the darkest timeline, a sad-sack universe in which everything is messed up. And to top it all off, you just royally messed things up by _KISSING YOUR BEST FRIEND_."

Jughead thought he may have gone too far with that last comment. He half expected his alternate self to punch him in the face. Fortunately for him, he knew Jughead Jones couldn't throw a punch to save his life.

It was quite a while before the other guy responded.

* * *

AN: Phew, that was quite a delay. Hope the POV change in this chapter wasn't too confusing. In the next one we're back to TV!Jughead, and continuing to alternate between them in the odd and even chapters. As a matter of fact, it's already posted on Ao3, but I'm keeping a buffer for you here on FF, so you'll get it sometime in the next week or so.


	3. Issue 3 - Jughead v Romeo

This was not how Jughead expected his birthday evening to turn out. He had decided to go to Pop Tate's on a whim for some much-needed alone time. But now, sitting across the table from him was none other than his double from a parallel universe, who was apparently now _calling him out_ for the crime of kissing his best friend. And Jughead had no idea of how to respond to that. But he had to say something, and so he said:

"You're jealous of me and Betty."

This almost prompted a laugh.

"Jughead, dude. Given on what I've told you so far, what makes you think _I_ would want that?"

"I dunno. Same reason you want me not to."

"It's not that. It's just... I'm not really sure why you wanted it in the first place."

Jughead sighed.

"I'm crazy about her. Without her, I'd just be crazy." Jughead grinned a little at his own joke, then waited for the other Jughead to contradict him. There was silence, so he continued.

"Whenever I'm with her, any moment, however brief, is a moment in which nothing else matters. It's like we're _Romeo and Juliet_ , or something. She makes me smile more than anything else in this bleak world."

"Uh huh. ' _Romeo and Juliet_?' What next? Are you gonna start writing sonnets about her?"

"No," Jughead said with a quick glance at the laptop. "There are far better forms of verse out there."

"Dude, this isn't _you_! None of this is like you at all."

"And how would you know?"

"I _am_ you! Okay?"

"Fine, fine, it's not 'like me.' Because whatever you're thinking, Betty and I aren't like that."

"Like what?"

"Like... every other superficial high school romance ever."

"Of course," said the other Jughead, failing to sound convinced.

"Well, y'know, we can be _weird_ together. And honest. We can be totally honest without having to hide ourselves behind fake feelings. And we do nice things for each other without the need to constantly try and impress the other one. We're not _normal_."

 _Or at least I'm not_ , Jughead thought, but he didn't dare say it. For everything he'd just said, half of him knew it to be true. The other half of him only _hoped_ it was true.

"Really?" said the other Jughead. "Because the Betty I know wouldn't need a romance to justify any of that."

"And what would you know about Betty?"

"Quite a lot actually. She's my best friend."

"I thought Archie was your best—"

"You can have more than one best friend."

Jughead paused. He wondered if he'd consider Betty a best friend.

He thought of the adventures he and Betty had started together – investigating Jason's murder, tracking down Polly, finding a carful of evidence and later coming back to find it torched. They'd grown closer than ever throughout the experiences they'd shared, more than he thought was possible before last summer. Maybe they were each other's best friends as well, but for some reason he didn't like the idea of labeling it that way.

"Maybe in your universe," he said. "But in this one, Betty and me are a lot closer now than back when we were just friends."

The other Jughead exhaled and shook his head at the phrase 'just friends,' to which he simply replied:

"It's not gonna last."

"Oh come on! What do you know?"

"Because these sorts of relationships never do."

"You have no idea, man!"

Jughead was maybe a little ruder than he'd meant to be, but in the time since they met, his alternate self had been nothing but negative. Besides, hadn't _he_ been the one who'd started this whole conversation? Just what was this guy trying to prove anyway?

"I'm serious, Jughead. Couples fight. _It's what they do._ I hate to say it, but statistically, your relationship isn't going to last. And then you won't have a best friend to fall back on. You'll have an _ex-girlfriend_."

Jughead wanted to cover his ears and deny it, but it was not like the thought hadn't already crossed his own mind. And the fact that he was hearing this from own alternate universe self made it doubly frightening.

"I won't let it happen," he replied, surprising himself as he almost choked up when he said it.

"How? By running away from her every time you're about to have a fight?"

That _really_ touched a nerve. How dare he say such a thing!

"Seriously man, you have no idea! Just—" Jughead began.

"Because why else would you come alone here on your birthday?"

Jughead flared his nostrils and looked up down as if sizing his double up for combat, but as much as he would have liked to punch the other guy in the face, he simply could not. Because as much as the other Jughead's words angered him, he knew he was absolutely right.

"I don't like parties," he said through gritted teeth.

"And what about Betty?"

"She... doesn't understand yet that I don't like parties. That's all."

" _Is_ it though?" he asked, like he didn't already know.

"No, of course it isn't! Gah!" Jughead slammed his hand down on the table so hard, it made the glasses rattle. "She threw me a surprise party I didn't want. Then she didn't understand _why_ I didn't want it or even think to ask me why. You know I should have told her there and then, but..."

Jughead thought of his father, and wondered if every generation of his family was doomed to repeat the mistakes of the last.

"...I knew I probably would've ended up getting mad and saying something I didn't mean. I couldn't handle staying at the party, so I came here. And now... I really don't wanna lose her. But I have _not the faintest idea_ of how to fight as a couple. You got any ideas, buddy boy?"

"Uhm, I'm really the wrong person to be asking about a thing like this."

"Right, right, aromantic. I get that."

"And also asexual... But yeah. I _do_ think I can relate to some of it though."

"You do?"

"I dated a girl once. And I stress, _once_."

"Unless you count Joanie in kindergarten."

"Yeah, but I only _date_ dated one person. And either way, it ended up as kind of a disaster. Her name was Sabrina, by the way, and how I ended up on a date with her is a whole other story, but—"

"Get to the point."

"Being on that date was _terrifying_ for me, like, the scariest thing that I' d ever experienced since the time I nearly got eaten by a bear. But it was scary for the very reason that I thought I'd mess up. As weird as that sounds, there was a genuine worry that I might fail to impress her."

"Who? Sabrina or the bear?"

"Both of 'em," the other guy said with a chuckle. "But mainly Sabrina, right up until the point when I blew it for good. After that I didn't feel so anxious, so..."

"Then the thing to do is for me to piss Betty off so much, it makes her not want to date me anymore. Perfect!" said Jughead, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Um, Juggie. That's not what I—"

"No, but you did get at least one thing right."

"Which is...?"

Jughead took a deep breath.

"I dunno, try the fact that I am _absolutely terrified_ of driving her away and losing the one happy thing in my life. Like, am I gonna say the wrong thing, or otherwise fail to impress her? I may be Romeo, but I don't exactly go out of my way to woo her with gifts and dates. That's just not a thing that I do. And I know she says _—_ she _claims_ —she's okay with that, but for all I know she's only saying it to humor me. This thought has been _festering_ in the back of my mind for a while now: am I good enough for Betty '#HotBetty' Cooper, or is she merely _putting up_ with me because she thinks I'm what she needs right now?

"And then... out of nowhere, she goes out of her way to impress me with a surprise birthday party I _didn't even want_. So, does that mean I have to do the same thing when it's her birthday? If that's what she wants, she's made a point of not telling me. And if I ask her, then I pretty much have to confront her about... all of this. And I don't wanna be _that guy_ who... pulls the pin on the Schrödinger's cat within the Pandora's box that is our relationship. I feel too much like I'd be destroying a good thing."

"And yet," the other Jughead replied. "If you leave the cat in the box for too long it'll just starve to death."

"I wasn't really going anywhere with that analogy. But yeah. Doing nothing is worse than etcetera, etcetera. Thing is about analogies though is they're _too_ simplistic. Relationships aren't like that. Romance is complicated and messy, and..."

In the other Jughead's eyes, there emerged a flash of recognition.

"Yes! This is _exactly_ the problem! It's why I prefer hamburgers to romance. There's so much less _drama_ to deal with."

"That all well and good for you, man. But I can't exactly take a hamburger to prom."

"Amateur," he snorted. "Why do you think I petitioned Pop's to do the catering?"

Jughead heaved another sigh.

"All this talk of hamburgers is making me hungry."

"Seriously though," said the other Jughead. "You wanna know what I think you should do?"

"Hang on," said Jughead, as he slid out his chair and got up to order a burger. "I'll be back in just a sec."

* * *

Phew, I feel I'm behind with this, especially as the Riverdale finale's been and gone. I've decided that watching it will be my reward for updating. That day is finally here, and I can't wait. I'll admit, though I initially started watching Riverdale for the purposes of writing this fic, I've found it very, very watchable and enjoyed it quite a lot, the queer erasure issues notwithstanding.

And chapter 4 is coming, folks!


	4. Issue 4 - The Movie of My Life

"So," said Jughead, having waited an excessively long time for his counterpart to get back from the bar. "If you want my complete and honest advice—"

"Not really," the other Jughead interrupted, "but go on."

He sat back down on the seat opposite and raised an eyebrow at Jughead.

"I think you should tell Betty."

The other Jughead considered this, before making his mind up in no time at all.

"I'd rather not."

"Why?"

"Because... what if I really am _aromantic_ like you say I am?"

It was Jughead's turn to raise an eyebrow.

"Would that really be the end of the world?"

"It would be the end of _us_ ," said the other. "The end of Bughead,"

"Wait, _Bughead_?"

The other Jughead clarified:

"My intel sources at the River Vixens confirm they have indeed started shipping us. And the ship name they chose... is Bughead. Personally I'd have gone with _Jutty_ , but nevermind."

"That is so..." Jughead began, before realizing that he couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence. "But you're not, are you? Aromantic, I mean."

"I dunno," the other boy said. "That's how a parallel universe works, right? We were both born the same, lived two different lives. But underneath it all, we're still essentially the same person."

"Hey, you said it, not me."

"Actually, it was you who said it."

"I may have implied it," Jughead said guiltily. "So... sorry."

"S'alright. Listen, I know asexuality is a thing you're born with, like being gay or straight. So my guess is that aromantic works in more or less the same way. Am I wrong?"

"Well, yes and no," said Jughead "I've heard of people becoming ace who weren't before when they were like, fifty. People change, or they don't change. Either way is cool in my opinion."

The first time Jughead had been told this in his own universe, it had been explained to him by Betty's older sister, the one who worked as a news reporter. He liked her, but the way she used the word 'valid' four times in a single sentence confused him. Jughead never enjoyed explanations like these. He chose instead to explain it in the way that made the most sense to him, hoping this would make sense to his double too.

"Wait. Really?" said the other Jughead, understanding the sentiment but missing the point. "You mean I might not be..."

His eyes lit up at the thought that he might just be _normal_ , or at least a little less weird.

"Buuuut, probably not in my case," said Jughead. "Cause, yeah. I'm pretty sure I've had the hots for food since the day I was born."

"Way to get my hopes up there, buddy," he sighed. Jughead couldn't help feel some of the other guy's disappointment, even if he was being kind of a jerk about it. As if the thought of his being aro-ace really _was_ the end of the world. The end of _his_ world, perhaps? Given what he'd already said about Betty, that might actually be too far from the truth. It was sad to watch really, but some people really did get this dramatic about their high school romances. It shouldn't be that hard to believe. But of all people, this was the last thing he'd expect from someone called Jughead Jones.

It strained his belief that such a universe could even exist where the local version of himself was like this. Because surely if universes existed with impossible things in them, he ought to have come across at least one with cold fusion, or a magical tree that grows burgers that were both good for you and tasted extraordinary, despite being grown on a tree and therefore vegetarian.

Then again, if the other guy really was aromantic, he would at least come across as such? An aromantic guy wouldn't fret over relationships like _every other hormone-addled teen boy ever_. As such, it bothered him that this guy seemed worried he might be aro when clearly he was not.

"You know what? I think maybe you're not aro after all. I'm just not picking up that vibe from you. Your attraction to Betty feels 100% genuine. It's like you love her or something."

The other Jughead was taken aback, almost as if he'd never used quite _that_ word to describe his feelings for Betty before, but now that someone else had pointed it out to him, he couldn't _not_ admit it.

"I... what?"

The boy in the whoopee cap barreled on regardless.

"As for me, I love her too, as a friend. Y'know? Or at least the Betty from my universe. Heck, who knows if they're the same person? But you and me, bro? Totally different. You aren't just knee-deep in relationship drama – you're actively hungry for it."

"How typical of you to use a food metaphor."

"Well, I do like food, _a lot_ ," said Jughead. "Oh, and speak of the devil..."

At that moment, Pop Tate came over to their table carrying a tray with a meal on it, the one the other Jughead had ordered as a direct result of this conversation. And Jughead couldn't help but feel a little proud of this fact.

"That's a fish filet burger and sweet potato fries," Pop declared.

"So close..." Jughead moaned.

It wasn't exactly his trademark order, but he tried not to be judgemental of the other Jughead, not least because he'd already berated him enough for one evening.

They made room on the table and Jughead watched as the other guy added condiments, then proceeded to tuck into it. He presumed that their food-sharing agreement from earlier was reciprocal, and so he picked at one or two of the sweet potato fries. It actually tasted pretty good, for a vegetable.

They didn't say much over the next few minutes, but every so often Jughead would hear the occasional notification noises from text messages. He presumed they were coming from the other Jughead's phone.

After a while, the boy in the beanie spoke up again.

"Okay, let me tell you something."

"About what?"

"Me and Betty."

"Oh. Are we still talking about this?" Jughead was about ready to change the subject, but since the other guy didn't respond, the implied answer was, _apparently so_. "Go on then," Jughead added once the pause had gone on a little too long.

"The day Betty and I first kissed..." Jughead prepared himself to hear a sappy love story. "I distinctly remember it was a Saturday because that was the day of the school variety show, the same day we went to visit Polly at the... institution she'd been consigned to. We'd been on quite a few of our adventures by this point, and on this particular trip, I knew I was mainly there to provide moral support. I don't think she could have made that visit without me, even though I still think I could have done more. Especially when her mom came in, and good grief. I presumed she had quite a big fight with her parents afterward because she texted me about it, saying not to use the front door. It was clear she still needed me, so I climbed in through her window all hero-like and I think I said something like—"

"Wait a second," said Jughead. "You climbed in through her window?"

"Yeah, what of it?"

"You mean that thing the boyfriend does in... I dunno, _every tacky teen romance drama ever_?"

"I'd have gone with _Romeo and Juliet_ , myself."

"The original tacky teen drama," sneered Jughead.

"Eh, maybe you're right. It's hard to tell sometimes. 'Cause right now my life feels like one of those dramas."

"Really?" said Jughead. "That sounds dull. I personally think of my life as a mystery-adventure comedy-thriller movie. Starring me of course."

"Hey, now there's a thought," said the other Jughead. "If your life was a movie, who do you think would be in the starring role."

"Oh geez, I haven't thought of that," Jughead replied. "Ezra Miller?" he said with a shrug.

His double thought to himself for a moment.

"How about the Sprouse twins?"

Jughead tried to remember which was the last episode of _Friends_ he had seen them in.

"Really?" he said. "But they look nothing like us."

"Yeah, but I was thinking," said the other guy. "We'd get Dylan to play me, and Cole could play you."

"Oh sure, give _me_ the evil twin!"

"Fine, you get Dylan and I'll take Cole. Is that better?"

"A little," said Jughead, with a grin. "So uh, tell me what happened _after_ you went and climbed into the window."

He casually sipped on the remains of his drink, which by now was just thawed ice cubes.

"Well, you have to understand, I was still in the mindset of providing moral support. Otherwise I don't think I could have done what I did that day. And I knew what Betty was going through. I told her exactly what she needed to hear."

"Which was...?"

"About how crazy we all are, and that she is not either of her parents. Then there was this long, awkward silence, like maybe she thought I'd had something else to say, but I had no idea what else it could be. Then it occurred to me that she might _really_ want me to kiss her. I wasn't really thinking about myself or what I wanted. It just... felt like the right thing to do. And yeah, that was when I kissed Betty Cooper. The relationship pretty much snowballed from there."

Jughead widened his eyes, daring to believe what he'd just heard.

"Wait a second," he said. "You're telling me that you _started a romance that you didn't want_?"

The other Jughead was just about to break under his questioning.

"Yeah, well... I gotta admit, I did like some of the relationship stuff that came afterward," he said, backpedaling at once.

"Sure. But are you telling me..." he said, "that this whole relationship with Betty... is a sham?"

The other Jughead froze, as if frightened by the mere suggestion.

The Jughead who was asking the questions began to think maybe he'd gone too far with that one.


	5. Issue 5 - And Then There Were Three

The question reverberated in Jughead's mind until he could bear it no longer.

 _Are you telling me... that this whole relationship with Betty... is a sham?_

"No, dingus," he said after a too-long pause in their discussion. "I said I _liked_ some of that relationship stuff. Weren't you listening?"

And Jughead really did mean it this time. The romantic bond he'd established with Betty, however accidental, meant so much more to him now than when it started. All it had taken was a conversation with this weirdo from a parallel universe for him to realize it.

"You can be aromantic and still be in a relationship," the other guy quipped.

Jughead simply gawked at him.

"Wha? Since when?"

"Since always."

The whole idea sounded ridiculous. He tried to imagine a 40-year-old Jughead trapped in a one-sided relationship with a wife or husband he barely cared about. If that's what the other Jughead was describing, then who in their right mind would want that? (Although by the standards of his parents' generation, it would be considered a successful and happy marriage.)

"But why would an _aromantic_ guy want that?" he said, emphasizing the first syllable of _aromantic_.

"I dunno?" The other Jughead shrugged. "I try not to judge."

"But isn't that a contradiction in terms?"

"Ohhh!" he said. "Says the walking contradiction himself."

"What?"

"At first you're like, 'Betty means the whole world to me,' and then..." Jughead winced internally when he realized this was how he'd been sounding. "And then you're like, 'I never wanted this relationship, but I do it for Betty.' Seriously dude, which one is it? You flip-flop more often than a politician."

"Are you saying I'm confused? Well of course I'm confused! I'm a teenage boy," Jughead said, as if he could convince himself that confusion was something unique to teenagers, as if the adults in Riverdale weren't all equally clueless, as if the whole town was not stuck in its own slow struggle to figure out its identity.

"I never said you weren't. Doesn't mean you can't be aromantic."

"Aargh, stop saying that!"

The other Jughead took a long slow slurp of his slushy ice cube melt, before saying:

"Maybe you're somewhere in the middle. Not quite aro but not quite straight either, which would mean... the universe makes sense again. Hooray!"

If anything, it made a lot less sense to Jughead to be hearing this. But then again, no part of this evening had made much sense in the first place.

"Wait, is that _a thing_?"

"Sure is. It's called being gray-romantic. Or is that demi-aro? I forget which one is which."

"There's a difference?"

"Oh, you bet there's a difference!" said the other Jughead, before taking a big breath. "There are _a lot_ of different identities and descriptions within the aromantic spectrum. For example, there's the one where attraction changes over time. And another one where you're kinda attracted to people but hate the idea of being in a relationship – so, basically the opposite to what you have now. And that's just scratching the surface. There's even one for when you're not sure what kind of orientation you have, which sounds right up your street, by the way."

"No way is that a thing."

"Why would it _not_ be a thing? I mean, think of it this way. There's no one way to be aro and everyone is different. D'you know we have more words for _specific types_ _of aromanticism_ than the Eskimos have words for snow?"

"You're pulling my leg."

"It's true," he said, pulling a smartphone out of his pocket. "There's this one tumblr that makes flag gifs of them all. I'll show you if you don't—"

"Nono, I believe you!"

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I get it. This is great and all. Aromantics are wonderful and... diverse. But it's just... I don't get is why you guys want to make it _a thing_. I mean sure, people are complex, and so are relationships, but... why does that have to be _a thing_? Like, you wanna mark yourself out as an oppressed group of people? And all for what? So you can open yourself up to the kind of rejection and ridicule from others that—"

"Oh, shuddup!" said the other Jughead. "It has nothing to do with being oppressed. We're not an oppressed people. I for one don't have to deal with the same kind of crap the first four letters of LGBT do. Listen man, chances are that no one's gonna oppress you for being aromantic. I almost guarantee they won't oppress you for being ace. If _any_ of your friends have a problem with this, then you need better friends. Seriously."

"I wasn't thinking about my _friends_ per se..."

"Oh, you mean Betty? Because if you think that she would—"

"Leave me? That's a real concern, yes."

"She wouldn't," the other Jughead said. "Because trust me, the Betty I know would love and support her aromantic boyfriend... if indeed she had one."

Of all the things the other guy had said tonight, Jughead found this the hardest to believe. But he had already decided by now that this conversation was going nowhere.

"Actually," said Jughead. "She's probably wondering where I am right now. I mean, I did leave in kind of a hurry."

"Hey, maybe I could go to the party and pretend to be you."

"Or maybe you could _not_ ," said Jughead. "No offense, dude. But the only thing that could possibly be more awkward than tonight's conversation would be having to introduce you to my frien—"

Jughead stopped there, because at that moment he looked up from his table to see none other than Veronica Lodge walking in through the big glass door.

The other Jughead turned to follow his gaze. Jughead immediately realized his mistake, and averted his eyes, trying to look inconspicuous. He knew that Veronica could only be here for one reason if she wasn't still at the party with the others: she had come here looking for him.

In a bold defiance of common sense, the other Jughead waved her over with the words:

"We're over here!"

"Oh hey, Jug—" she began, taking a step towards the guy who'd called her over, until she took a few more steps and saw that the other guy was not only wearing his clothes, but that the other guy was also him. "—head?"

Veronica blinked back her disbelief as she drew up to the table, her eyes darting frantically between the two of them, until finally she said:

"Have I met your twin before?"

"We're not twins," the two Jugheads said in unison, and immediately glared at each other.

"Oh my God, that is _cute_ ," she said.

"Here we go..." said Jughead, rolling his eyes.

Veronica lowered her tone a bit.

"You guys can relax. I already used up my one twincest joke for this evening on Cheryl."

"Then allow me to introduce myself," said the other Jughead, offering up his hand to shake. "I'm your Jughead's double from a parallel universe. Pleased to meet you, Roni from _this_ _universe_."

They shook hands.

"I didn't know there were more of me," she said. "So um, pleased to meet you... other Jughead. Did you just confirm the existence of parallel universes by the way?"

"He's been giving me an existential crisis for the last hour," Jughead chimed in. "And that's just the relationship talk."

"Oh, if I'm interrupting anything, I can just—"

"You're not," said the other Jughead. "We literally just finished talking about aromanticism when you came in."

Jughead tensed at this. He hoped the other guy wasn't about to give away his secret.

At the mention of aromanticism however, Veronica's face seemed to light up. Jughead wondered if this was one of her social justice matters that she liked to talk about online. It was a long shot, but if she did happen to know more about the subject than the guy sitting opposite, he wouldn't mind her knowing too.

"Actually Roni, I was wondering if I could ask _you_ something," Jughead said, surprising himself by just how willing he was to talk about it.

"Go on..."

"So, suppose you started dating a guy who told you later on that he was aromantic. How would you react to that?"

"Hmm," she said. "Well, obviously I'd ask them first if they thought our relationship could still work out. I myself would still want to make it work out. But I wouldn't take it personally if it didn't, if that's what you're thinking. Why? Are you thinking you might be—"

"I don't know," said Jughead. "I both am and I am not."

"Right," said Veronica. "And you don't know if Betty will be okay with that?"

Jughead nodded.

"I understand. Completely. Really, if you want me to, I can talk to her myself. I know it shouldn't to come to that though."

"Um, sure but... how do I know if I'm aromantic or not? What if I'm just... straight but bad at relationships?"

"Jug, I wish I could tell you that, but I'm afraid it doesn't work that way." She took a deep breath. "No one can show you your orientation. You have to see it for yourself."

"Did you just quote _The Matrix_?" the other Jughead chimed in.

"Sure did," said Veronica.

"I think I like this universe's version of Roni."

Jughead the movie buff wanted to point out to both of them that the actual quote was 'No one can _be told_ what the Matrix is,' but he managed to refrain. Instead he said:

"That's great and all, but how exactly am I supposed to... _see it for myself_?"

Veronica let out a sigh.

"I wish I could tell you it was easy. But honestly, understanding who you are and what makes you tick is hard work. I don't think it's something most people know how to do. And a lot of the time it's just a process of trial and error. But there are resources to help you online. Blogs and stuff. I don't know what'll work best for you. Maybe it's finding other people who share your experience with dating. Or you could look at a long list of terms and see which one fits you most. That actually helped me quite a lot with finding out I was bi."

"The blog with the flag gifs doesn't seem like such a bad idea now, eh?" said the other guy.

Jughead let out an even bigger sigh.

"Great, so an internet gif image is going to show me my _true self_."

"It's pronounced 'gif _'_."

"Anyway, you'd be surprised," said Veronica. "You can discover yourself in the strangest of places. I know it sounds silly, but, you know, part of the reason I know I'm bisexual is because of the bi character in _The 100._ "

"You mean Lexa?" the other Jughead asked, nodding sagely.

"No, that was Clarke. Lexa was the one who..."

"Oh right."

"I mean, I still can't believe the writers would just—"

"Hey, no spoilers!" Jughead cut in. Then when the other two stared back at him, he qualified it with: "What? I'm still halfway through season 1."

"Don't worry too much," said Veronica. "The 3rd season is not worth watching."

"Y'see, _that_ in itself is a spoiler. Simply by telling me that the—"

"Oh, shuddup," said the other Jughead, relieved to finally have the excuse to say it back to him.

"Anyway, didn't mean to take us on _that_ diversion," Veronica said, pulling back the conversation. "The whole point is that you don't have to identify as something you don't feel comfortable with. Also, whatever word or phrase _clicks_ with you, doesn't necessarily have to be the way you describe yourself to other people."

"You're telling me I can lie about it?"

"Well, not exactly."

"I gotta be honest with Betty though."

"Look, either way," said other Jughead. "I don't know your Betty, but if you seriously told her you are questioning these things, I think she'd listen. Sure, she might be a bit surprised at first, but the Betty I know would be fine with me being ace, aro, really anything other than straight."

Jughead looked at him like he was simple.

"You're not dating her. That's different."

"No, but I still think you should tell her."

"Why?"

"Because – and listen, this is something I know very little about – but you're _supposed_ to talk about these things with your... significant other, not keep it to yourself and resent them for it because they don't understand."

"Talking to her could mean the end of our relationship. Weren't you listening?"

"Jughead's right," said Veronica.

"Which one?" they said in unison.

"The Jughead sitting to my left. The one from _this_ universe, I mean." Then, to Jughead, she said: "You shouldn't be pressured into talking about these things when you're not ready."

"So if I never am ready... then I never have to tell her. Perfect!"

"All I can say is, when you do tell her, it's probably not as bad as you think it will be."

"Great," said Jughead. "Now can we please talk about something else?"

"Like what?" said the other Jughead. "I don't know about you, but I could do with some milkshakes."

"Well there's actually one thing I wanna ask you," said Veronica, looking at the letter on the other Jughead's shirt.

"Go on..." he said.

"What does the S stand for?"

* * *

AN:If you were wondering if that blog really exists, I think the closest thing you're likely to find is pride-color-schemes, which has a mind-boggling database of hundreds of identities, most of which you've never even seen before. The flags on it aren't gifs though. :(

You may also be wondering why this fic focuses so much on the _aromantic_ aspect when seemingly everyone else has been talking about Jughead as _asexual_. They're both important of course, and while Jughead in the comics is both aro and ace, I feel that few people (outside of a noisy minority) were ever talking about him being aromantic. Fewer people in general seem to talk about aromantic as an thing you can be. And I think there's still a tendency to assume that sexual orientation is the only orientation that matters, and that romance (or rather the lack of it) plays second fiddle.

But to me, the story in Archie Comics (and to a lesser extent, the Riverdale TV show) has always been a story about romantic relationships between teenagers. Sex rarely comes into it, if at all.

Now, it is entirely possible (or dare I say it, important) that Juggie and Betty follow up the conversation they have in the next few chapters by starting another one about what they're comfortable with doing in the bedroom together. But I don't feel that would be a part of this story, nor that I am necessarily qualified to write it. I also don't want to change the age rating of this story for that, as I'd rather keep it accessible to the entire age range of Archie Comics' audience. Remember that for many people, Jughead is the first aromantic character they come across.


	6. Issue 6 - Embrace Your Weirdness!

He had been waiting to say it for what felt like months. But he couldn't say it now because the timing wasn't right.

"Well," said the other Jughead. "What _does_ the S stand for?"

This universe's versions of Jughead and Veronica were staring across the table at him. But his eyes were not meeting theirs. Instead he was looking out the window.

Answers to questions would have to wait, he decided, because Jughead had seen someone outside who was approaching the glass doors.

"Hey, is that Archie?" he said, recognizing his best friend at once by the trademark red hair. He knew it wasn't the same Archie as the one from his universe, but he was keen to meet this version of Archie Andrews to find out just how much they differed. That would also have to wait.

The other two whirled around in their seats to see, and neither one looked particularly pleased with what they saw.

"Is that... all of them?" said other Jughead.

Veronica was biting her lip. This was not what she had planned either. Archie on his own would have been fine, but he had not arrived alone, for standing behind him was an entire crowd of party guests. It was difficult to tell just how many there were, but it was definitely more than had been invited to Jughead's party in the first place. And it was a noisy crowd. It was easier to hear them at this point than to see them.

"A bunch of people showed up after you left," Veronica explained. "They must have followed us here."

"Yeah, I almost passed them on the street," the other Jughead replied, grimacing.

Making a snap-assessment of the situation, Jughead decided the town of Riverdale was not yet ready to find their world was one of many, much less a group of rowdy 10th graders.

Both Jugheads could see Archie wasn't the only redhead among them. Cheryl Blossom was there as well. And wherever Cheryl went, trouble was bound to follow.

"I gotta... go to the bathroom," Jughead said, taking his cue to exit.

Before walking away, he gave an encouraging wink to the other guy. He would have preferred to depart as mutual loving friends, but seeing two Jugheads at the diner together was enough to have them asking questions. And if this universe was anything like the others, gossip spread quickly in this town.

A second later he turned his back and was halfway across the room by the time before Archie and the partygoers could burst in to take a closer look.

They would be too distracted to notice anyway. Half of them were already drunk. And most probably wouldn't notice there had been a third person until just now.

Over his shoulder, Jughead could hear a shout from this universe's version of Archie.

"Jug, I tried to stop them. They just—"

It was immediately drowned out by the crowd erupting in behind him and singing the words to a copyrighted birthday song.

" _HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!_ " they droned, each of them singing it in a different key. Jughead avoided looking back at the other guy's reaction. He already knew it wasn't going to be positive.

Each line of the song was louder than the previous one. In the third line, most of them used the name Jughead, but a few crafty people managed to squeeze every syllable of _FORSYTHE PENDLETON_ into the space of just two.

Jughead disappeared behind the bathroom door before the song was over. A few seconds later, he had disappeared completely.

He wasn't sure if he should just move on to a different universe or maybe hang around in this one a while longer. Since he might never find it again, he decided to stay here for now. Besides, he still had so much more to say to his counterpart. So for the next hour he would wait at the far end of the parking lot for the boy in the beanie to come out and find him.

In the end it took less than ten minutes for the other guy to discreetly leave the building. The look on his face suggested he was somehow even more tired than before.

"I thought you were in the bathroom," he said.

"I was."

Jughead knew the bathroom windows were not big enough to climb out of, and so did the other Jughead. Neither of them would mention this for now.

Together they walked for a while until out of sight of the diner, at which point the other Jughead spoke.

"So uh, what _does_ the S stand for?"

"It's not an S." Jughead could help but grin as he said it. "On my planet, it means hope."

The other Jughead considered this for a moment, then put his face in his hand when he recognized the origin of that quote, which made Jughead laugh. And that made them both laugh.

"We are such dorks," Jughead said after a while.

"I'll be honest," said the other guy. "Not my favorite Superman movie."

"Nah, me neither,"

"Good, just checking. I mean, no big deal you _do_ like it. For all I know, you might be from some weird alternate timeline where _Man of Steel_ was released to rave reviews?"

"Nahh, it pretty much sucks in all timelines."

This raised another small chuckle from the other Jughead.

"Still it's kind of a shame though," he said. "That movie had such potential."

"It wasn't true to the comic books."

"Yeah. But neither was Smallville."

"You like that show?" Jughead said with a note of surprise.

"I enjoy it for what it is, which is to say it is angsty teenage fanfiction of a beloved comic book franchise."

"I couldn't have put it better myself."

Jughead smiled. Finally some common ground.

"Man, I could stay here all week talking about movies and TV shows," he continued.

"What, really?"

"Yeah! Maybe we could hang out after school at the drive-in and—"

"Yeahhh... They only just closed that down. And bulldozed it."

"Seriously? Then darn, maybe this _is_ the darkest timeline."

"You don't have to tell me," said the other guy, scudding his shoe on the ground. "I have been watching the news for the last year."

"Oh, let me guess," said Jughead, folding his arms. "They elected George Bush's brother as president?"

"Worse."

"What could possibly be worse than— No, don't tell me. I think I'd rather not know."

"That's wise."

"Then gee, I guess I'd better leave quick before someone does tell me."

There was a long pause.

"So, um..."

"So... yeah?"

The other Jughead avoided eye contact until he couldn't hold it any longer.

"Listen," he said. "I've decided I am going to talk to Betty about this, y'know, ace-aro stuff."

"Cool," said Jughead.

"I was also wondering if you had any more advice for that."

"Oh, I dunno really. Be as honest as possible and don't expect it to be easy. Don't get me wrong though, it's still a million times easier than bottling it up forever. You can trust me on that one."

For a moment, this Jughead felt so much taller than the other one, but maybe that was just the difference in hats.

"Sure,"

"Oh and hey, I know you don't wanna talk about it. But in a sense, you already have," Jughead said, pointing at himself. "Because despite our differences, we are still very much the same person."

"Sure we are," said the other guy, not really sounding like he believed it at all.

"Don't you think so?"

"No offense, but I don't think we are the same in that respect. You just seem weirdly proud of the fact you can't be in a relationship."

"No offense to you too, but you're way too afraid to embrace your weirdness. Just embrace it!"

The other guy seemed to chew this over in his mind.

"But why though? The way I see it, I'm already pretty good at not fitting in. I mean in case you haven't noticed, I don't fit in. I don't _want_ to fit in. Have you ever seem me without this stupid hat? That's weird!"

"You're one to talk about stupid hats," Jughead said, pointing proudly at the whoopee cap.

The other guy sighed.

"Maybe I just don't get _this_ as a thing to be proud of. It's like being proud of your allergies."

Jughead took a deep breath. He'd been put on the spot, and this was finally the chance to explain.

"Yeah, but think of it my way: this identity is what gives me the freedom to not act like every other hormone-addled teen out there. And that, my friend, is something to be proud of. Listen, I know it might sound dumb, but I want other kids to be proud of it too. Like I was hoping when I get to senior year, there'd maybe be some aros and aces joining the school who'd look up to me. And that'd be awesome, and it would reassure them they don't have to fit into the mold and force themselves be someone who chases after girls like, um..."

"Archie Andrews?" the other guy offered.

"I was wondering if he was like that in this universe too."

"He sure is."

Jughead was a tiny bit disappointed. Part of him had been hoping at least one member of the Archie Gang was an aromantic ace in this universe.

"Yeah," he continued. "I mean, I love the guy and all, but sometimes I don't know if he's a hopeless romantic or just plain hopeless! Either way, you and I aren't like that, and that's okay. In fact it's better than okay. Embrace the weirdness! Will you just embrace it already?"

Jughead threw his arms open for a hug. And before he knew it, the other guy was hugging him back. When they broke from their awkward embrace, the other Jughead looked him in the eyes and nodded.

After a while, he broke the silence again.

"I guess I better get back to the party."

"Yeah. But it's been nice hanging with you."

"Likewise. And hey, aren't you gonna tell me how you escaped from that bathroom?"

Jughead hadn't been expecting to answer this, but he would gladly oblige. First he looked around to be sure they were alone. They were. Then he leaned in and whispered:

"I thought you'd never ask."

Then he whipped something shiny out of his coat pocket.

It looked a lot like a handheld barcode scanner, except for that it had a vial of glowing green stuff poking out of the top.

"It's the portal gun I use to travel between realities."

It was a very strange looking gun. The other Jughead couldn't seem to take his eyes off it. Up close, the green stuff it seemed to resemble the contents of a plasma ball. Other than that, the portal gun had few visible features apart from a small black dial near the handle, not even a trigger.

"Where the hell did you get that?" he said.

"Borrowed it from a lovely old man named Rick Sanchez. He doesn't mind me using it. He just... doesn't know who I am or the fact that I borrowed it."

"How does it work?"

"Like this."

Without even touching the dial, Jughead pointed it at the ground a few feet away from them. It fired a bolt of energy, which opened up into a swirling green vortex on contact with the tarmac. The portal looked somewhat 2-dimensional, yet it also seemed to go on forever. It was not fully touching the ground either. It looked as if it was part of some other reality, which was because it was.

Either the other Jughead was rendered completely speechless by the sudden appearance of an interdimensional portal in Riverdale, or his capacity to feel surprised this evening had long since been exhausted. Either way, he said nothing. He just stood there, looking tired.

Jughead decided that now would be the perfect time to make his grand exit.

"Look out below!" he cried, and promptly jumped in.

The portal closed behind him a few seconds later. The other Jughead stared for half a minute at the patch of ground where the portal had been. It had left no evidence of the encounter with his alternate self.

Before he began to question whether or not this had been a dream, he decided the least he could do was to remember it. He would write it down as soon as he got back to his computer. He briefly considered the option of walking home and not telling anyone, when he remembered that his home was Archie's house now, and his computer was still inside the diner, surrounded by party guests. He ran back in before someone else stole it.

* * *

AN: Gosh, has it been 3 months already? The start of a new Riverdale season is upon us and that is what finally motivated me to get this chapter out. Just so you know, there will probably be one or two more chapters after this, hopefully with less of a wait.

I know, I know, I've been busy. But at least some of that time has been spent with other writing projects, including my unfinished sci-fi novel, _Lunar Olympics_. And with the amount of time I've spent on it, you'd think I'd have finished it by now!

Also, did I just create a crossover with Rick and Morty? I think I did. It remains to be seen whether that gun came from C-137 or perhaps one of the other Ricks. Can portal guns be stolen? It seems like something that would happen, and I haven't seen anything in the show to say that they can't. Do let me know in the reviews if you've watched both shows. I know I have.


	7. ISSUE 7 - Yellow Heart Emoji

AN: I've completed the fic, everyone! There may be a short epilogue posted after this, but for all intents and purposes consider this the final chapter.

* * *

Jughead didn't go to bed that night. Instead he fell asleep in front of his laptop and woke up the next morning with a heavy head full of half-remembered facts.

He'd written about as much as he could about the evening into a text file, in case he needed to remind himself of these things on a later date. Then he made the mistake of going online afterward for a bit of 'background research' on what it truly meant to be aromantic, which ended up taking the whole night.

It was interesting though. And it was probably a good thing he avoided Twitter and Facebook in his search for the truth and kept instead to some of the weirder parts of the web. As a result of this, he now knew that aromantic people were no different from anyone else really... except for the fact that they were strong, smart, brave, awesome, super-cool and undeniably deserving of love. Jughead rolled his eyes at the saccharine stream of positivity as he scrolled past all the blogs; surely this couldn't be referring to him?

He learned that a great many aromantic people abbreviated it to 'aro'. He vaguely remembered the other Jughead using this word, which he pronounced as 'arrow' – an odd choice considering the allusion to Cupid's love darts, but he liked it nonetheless.

By now it was about 1:30 in the morning, and he had about 20 different browser tabs open.

In his quest for knowledge, Jughead had found that there were at least three competing designs for the aromantic pride flag, and he already had strong opinions on which one was better.

He also took note of some essential differences between aromantic and asexual. And as if there weren't enough contradictions for his late-night brain to handle, he learned that it was possible to be both of these things, even at the same time, while still enjoying a life of sex and romance.

The realization took hold of him, slowly at first, that it wasn't so much about what you do or don't do with your life. It was more a question of who you are. Though it seemed counterintuitive at first, he searched high and low for a better explanation and found none. Every glossary entry for 'aromantic' seemed to say more or less the same thing: _a person who experiences little or no romantic attraction to others_. It said absolutely nothing about the amount of romance they had in their life.

None of them ever truly explained the meaning of 'romantic attraction' either, or how much of it you needed to have for your experience to be valid, but for the most part it didn't seem to matter.

So where did Betty come into this? He wasn't sure if his true feelings toward her were romantic in nature, but they definitely hadn't started that way. Some essential quality about their relationship had just become more romantic over time. He wondered if he had unintentionally changed himself to become the boyfriend she needed most. Was it really possible for one's orientation to change like that? Had Betty turned him straight?

Jughead hated to think of it this way. He'd rather just appreciate their relationship for what it was: a soap bubble – so beautiful and simple; but the more he tried to mess with it or change its direction, the sooner it would inevitably break.

He showed up late for school the next day, mostly due to lack of sleep, but also because the glare from the computer screen had messed with his circadian rhythm and caused him to wake up late. He got about halfway to the school gates before realizing it was, in fact, a weekend. Weird. The last few birthdays had been ordinary days in the middle of the week, so it did stand to reason this one would be too.

But since he'd already left the house, he decided it was a good enough excuse to meet Betty at someplace other than Archie's bedroom. Living next door was nice, but it felt almost like he was sharing her with Archie. Or did it just not feel... romantic enough?

No, it wasn't that. He merely needed to be somewhere he could think clearly, and that wasn't home, much as he liked staying there. That didn't leave many other options besides Pop's Chock'lit Shoppe.

He sent a quick text to Betty, telling her he would be there. He spent way too long thinking about which emoji to sign off the message with, and eventually decided it wouldn't be the end of the world if his finger slipped and tapped the yellow heart instead of the red one. It was a subtle gesture, but to him, the yellow heart was associated with friendly and platonic love. All the same, he wasn't sure if Betty would pick up on it.

There. He sent it.

Wait, wasn't that the same emoji heart that caused a stir a couple years back because it appeared on some people's phones as a hairy pink pair of...? _No, stop it Jughead. You're overthinking this._ He'd seen Betty's phone a thousand times before. It was the same model as his one. So there was no chance whatsoever of the tiny yellow heart being mistranslated as something else.

Just to be sure, he looked at the app to double-check for the blue bubbles. _Okay, now you're definitely overthinking it. Just stop!_ There really wasn't any need to overthink it. Why did he have to make it so hard? It was just a conversation with Betty.

Without even realizing, he'd walked right past hers and Archie's houses. He might have wanted to save the conversation for later, but it was a little late for that now. Betty was standing in the front window. Her face lit up when she saw him. Only a moment later, she was hurrying out the front door.

"Hey Jug."

Jughead couldn't help it. Her smile was contagious. Within seconds they were holding hands and walking in step with each other, and Jughead had almost forgotten what it was he needed to talk about.

Almost.

He could have still waited until they were both seated and waiting for food, but now seemed as good a time as any. Besides, the talk he really wanted to have was probably going to take take a while. He might as well start it now.

No wait, this was not going to be 'the talk'. It wasn't even going to be 'a talk'. He was not going to build it up in his mind to be more than it was supposed to be.

"So where were you?" Betty said, prompting to Jughead to turn his head. "Last night was kind of hectic for me too."

"Yeah, the reason I was weird last night... I kind of bumped into a relative of mine, who was... shall we say..."

"Your clone from an alternate dimension?"

"What?"

"Nothing. There was this rumor going around after the party, which just goes to show that people in this town will believe anything. I'm pretty sure either Chuck Clayton or Cheryl made up that rumor to get back at me."

"Get back at you? For what?"

Betty paused, and briefly stopped walking.

"I need to come clean to you separately about that," she said. "But tell me your thing first. It sounds more interesting."

Jughead tried his best to look concerned, which was not difficult for him.

"Well I also need to come clean to you about... okay, I wish I didn't have to tell you this. This, uh, relative of mine. He told me he was aromantic and asexual. That is to say, he isn't attracted to girls, or anyone else for that matter."

"Right, an aro-ace. I get that. "

"You do?" said Jughead, impressed that she knew the term.

Betty nodded. Maybe this would be easier than he thought.

"Yeah. So what's the issue?"

"Well, the weird part is... he seemed beyond convinced that I was one as well."

At this, she raised an eyebrow.

"But how would he know that? I mean, you're not. He can't be right, can he?"

"He's also not wrong."

Slowly, Betty opened her mouth and closed it again.

"You mean you're...?"

"The short answer is: I don't know."

For the first time in this conversation, Betty seemed lost for words.

"Um, yeah. That's cool I guess. I mean I wasn't expecting that. So, uh, what did you think you were before?"

That was a good question. It took Jughead a moment to consider the answer.

"Hmm. Sexuality-wise, I suppose I always leaned a bit towards ace. With regards to romantic orientation... it's hard to say. I think for a while I managed to ignore the issue altogether. But then this guy shows up and opens a whole Pandora's box of things I'd rather not think about. Because I'm terrified of saying out loud that I might not be attracted to you, for fear that it might be true, but I still want to be your boyfriend. And if I can't figure it out by myself and pretend to you that everything's okay, then yeah, damned if you do, damned if you don't."

"Jug, I understand."

"You do?"

Betty nodded.

Then she both stopped walking and put her arms around him, loosely at first but when Jughead hugged her back, she pulled in tighter.

After some 20 seconds of hugging, Jughead accidentally inhaled through his nose in such a way that it made a sniveling noise.

"You're crying?"

"A bit, yeah," said Jughead.

Betty didn't need to ask why. She knew Jughead well enough at this point that she could just wait until he said it on his own.

They hugged it out for a little while longer, until eventually:

"I don't want to lose you," he said in a small voice. "I worry that if I explore these things too deeply, I might find there's something about me that means we don't fit."

Another moment passed before Betty spoke again.

"Juggie, with all due respect, the only thing you have to fear is... coming to the conclusion that you're better off alone, or in a different type of relationship. Either way, I think you're better off knowing this than not knowing it."

"No no, you don't understand."

"Juggie, I understand. Really, I do. Veronica gave me the alphabet soup talk a while back. So—"

"Wait. What's 'alphabet soup'?"

"Okay, when we'd just started dating, she took me aside and told me what to do in case my boyfriend ever came out to me as LGBT. And yes, that includes asexual and aromantic identities. I'll be honest, I found it a little condescending, but I listened, because I would not want to hurt you for any part of who you are. And I will do anything in my power to make sure I never do. So yeah, I would love the hell out of my aromantic partner. If you want me to, that is."

Jughead broke from the hug and looked her in the eye.

"Are you possibly just saying that to make me happy?"

"No Jughead. I'm saying it to make us _both_ happy."

Jughead wasn't quite sure what she meant by that, but he thought it best not to question it for now. The time for over-analyzing everything was later. For now, he leaned in closer and hugged her again.

"Thank you," he said.

They went on walking. Betty smiled and said:

"Well, that is such a relief."

"Why?"

"Um, when you said you didn't want to tell me, my mind immediately jumped to something _much worse_. Like, what if it was something that's actually _bad_?"

"Really? Like what?"

"For all I know, you could have got yourself indebted to one of the Southside Serpents for some Sins of the Father bullcrap and have to... I dunno, run drugs for them."

Jughead couldn't help but laugh at this.

"Yeah," he said. "As if that would ever happen."

They walked the rest of the way holding hands. Pop's was almost empty when they arrived and ordered their usual milkshake flavors. By this time, Betty had almost finished telling Jughead about the incident with Chuck. Then he began the difficult task of talking to her about how he might not be as straight as he thought he was.

"I mean, I'm still happier with you than not with you," he felt the need to clarify again, just in case that wasn't already clear.

Betty listened to everything he said after that, interrupting only to ask him the meanings of certain words. But more often than not, it was Jughead who interrupted himself.

 _Am I sure I want to say this? What could it mean for our relationship?_

When Betty had noticed him doing this a few times, she finally interrupted his interruption:

"Juggie, whatever it is you're about to say, it's okay. I want us to be able to talk about this, about _us_. I don't really feel we do that enough."

Jughead, on the other hand, was starting to wish they could change the subject altogether.

"What? So you're overcompensating by having me tell you everything?" he said.

"No. I wasn't saying that."

"Then what were you saying?" asked Jughead, not that he cared very much for the answer. He felt annoyed at having to discuss these personal matters relating to his orientation. None of them were things he felt ready to say yet. And here he was, not even a day later, spilling the beans to his girlfriend. Perhaps this whole discussion had been a mistake.

"I mean, just in general. Like you could have told me you didn't like parties."

"Oh, don't make this about—" Jughead began to say. But before he could finish that sentence, a glowing green vortex appeared on the wall opposite table.

Betty's gaze followed his, and she saw at the same time as him. Someone was walking out of that vortex, still carrying the barcode-scanner-looking-thing that was actually a portal gun. He also looked an awful lot like Jughead, which may have been was because he was.

"Oh my..." Betty said.

The other Jughead looked around and spotted the young couple in the corner having an argument. When he saw additionally that one of them was himself, he walked up to them and asked:

"Have you guys seen my hat? I think I might have left it here."

Betty and Jughead took a glance at each other, then back at him.

"I mean, I don't remember leaving it here," he continued, "but I've retraced my steps and this is the last place where I definitely remember having it."

"It's on your head," Betty and Jughead said at the same time.

The other Jughead's eyes rolled upward, as if trying to see out the top of his head, but his skull got in the way. He put his hand there instead, and confirmed by touch that it was indeed there.

"Oh yeah. Thanks!" he said, then offered out a hand to Jughead and Betty. "Name's Jughead Jones by the way. I believe I've already met you. And uh, you must be Betty. Pleased to meet you."

He shook hands with this universe's version of Betty, whose mouth dropped open.

"No! Way!" she said. "Out of _all_ the rumors started by Cheryl Blossom, how _this_ the one that ends up being true?"

"What?" said the other Jughead.

"Someone must have seen you here last night, and word got out," said Jughead.

"But I was discreet. You and me were pretty much the only ones here apart from Veronica and..."

Their heads turned toward the bar. Pop Tate was whistling to himself as he dried off a sundae glass with a rag.

"Anyway, it doesn't really matter," said Betty.

"Wait. It doesn't?" said both Jugheads in unison.

Betty's eyes flitted back and forth between them, as if to confirm that yes, Jughead's good looks were a constant in both universes.

"No," she said after a moment's hesitation. "Pretty much everyone thinks it's just a rumor, nothing more."

Jughead breathed himself an internal sigh of relief. It would save him the trouble of explaining the whole parallel universe situation to people he would never otherwise talk to.

The other Jughead seemed to take it as his cue to leave, until Betty spoke again.

"But wait," she said. "The people I heard it from. They both said you came from some kind of alternate dimension that's... better somehow? Like, it didn't have any of the bad things that happened to us in the last year. Because if so, I want to know more about that world. What can you tell me?"

 _That's my Betty_ , thought Jughead, because if there was one thing about her that could always be relied on, it was her journalistic curiosity.

"I can't tell you, but I can show you."

Betty's face lit up for the second time today. She looked to the left at her Jughead, as if searching for approval.

"And what about you?" said the other Jughead, gesturing at Jughead with his other hand.

Jughead thought about it for a moment. He almost didn't want to go with them. From what the other Jughead had said about this world, there was a good chance that he wouldn't want to go back when he saw it.

"I'm probably going to regret saying this," he said, "but what the hell, but why not?"

There was of course much he could learn about his own world by seeing what a parallel universe was like. And he knew he'd regret it even more if he didn't go.

Maybe the same could apply to another area of his life. Exploring his orientation was a daunting prospect. But whether or not he turned out to be ace, aro, straight, or something in between, he would perhaps gain a better understanding of himself by considering orientations besides his own? Nah, too cheesy.

"Awesome," said the other guy. "I'll give you two the guided tour. But hold up! Before we head out on our adventure, let me just bring along a little something from this world."

And he sauntered up to the bar. Pop looked faintly embarrassed to see him again, given the role he'd played in spreading the rumor, but he still smiled when he saw the other Jughead.

"I'll have three hamburger meals to go, sir. Extra fries."

"Jughead," Betty called over from their table. "I actually don't eat—"

"Yeah..." he said. "Those are for me,"

* * *

AN: It's been great, folks! Special thanks to KatherineRide on Wattpad for suggesting the idea of having Betty meet both Jugheads. The ending turned out rather differently as a result.

I never would have guessed I was going to be here when I first brainstormed this story idea in a Twitter thread last year. (Gosh, has it really been that long?)

What started off as a cute idea to write something that both #AroAceJugheadOrBust folks and #Bughead shippers could get on board with has since spiralled into a monster-project that took up way too much of my free time - but I regret none of it! This has after all brought me to a significant milestone as an author - my first ever completed fanfic.

(Yeah, I know how many promising fics there are that never ever get completed, which is part of what determined me to finish it so hard.)

And, just to peel back the curtain a bit, this section was originally supposed to take place on a school day, with Betty and Jug meeting at Pop's after class. But then I watched the first season again on Netflix and realised that the title of the birthday episode was 'The Lost Weekend'... so I had to re-do the entire first part of the chapter for continuity. Sigh!


End file.
